"Escort for Death"
I think that might make quite a splash if I added it to my resume. Much more exciting than "Volunteer Clinic Escort at Planned Parenthood."
A new protestor last week introduced me to the Escort for Death term - stated with hatred, loathing, and a very deep horror-movie voiceover tone - and used it frequently to refer to me and the two other volunteer escorts. This was in addition to the typical "Mommy, don't kill your baby!" and "Daddy, don't kill your baby!" mantras that the protestors favour.
Fact: In the entire region, abortions account for 2% of the services provided by Planned Parenthood of Mar Monte (PPMM).
Fact: The protestors don't consider the wealth of other necessary services provided by PPMM - pre-natal care, pediatric care, reproductive health care, family planning, primary care.
The protestors accuse PPMM of being motivated by greed and money. Yet PPMM remains one of the few resources available to men, women, and children who don't have health insurance or access to health providers, and PPMM uses a sliding scale to calculate fees to make sure that everyone can receive health care from qualified medical professionals. How can this be considered greed?
The city of Sacramento recently passed a new ordinance to protect clinics and people seeking access to the clinics (this includes both patients and staff members). The ordinance creates a buffer zone with a 20' radius around any clinic entrance. Protestors may still stand in this zone and express their opinions, but they are not permitted to approach people entering the clinic without their consent. Two of the regular Tuesday morning protestors at the PPMM B St. clinic have filed a suit challenging the constitutionality of the ordinance.
I read about the suit in the Sacramento Bee online this morning. Considering that I have been a witness to the protestors' actions on numerous occasions, including on July 6th, one of the days specifically mentioned in the suit, I immediately contacted both the reporter who wrote the story and the Deputy City Attorney who is handling the case. I'm pleased to report that I heard from both of these people today - I'll be meeting with the City Attorney sometime within the next two weeks to draft a declaration that will be entered into testimony at the September injunction hearing, and I spoke with the reporter who is doing a follow-up story for about 15 minutes to tell her about what I've experienced as an escort at the clinic.
After being a part of the historic March for Women's Lives in Washington, D.C. in April, the last thing I'm going to do in a situation like this is remain silent!
Pro-choice = pro-women, pro-health, pro-child, pro-family. I'm pro-choice and proud of it!
A new protestor last week introduced me to the Escort for Death term - stated with hatred, loathing, and a very deep horror-movie voiceover tone - and used it frequently to refer to me and the two other volunteer escorts. This was in addition to the typical "Mommy, don't kill your baby!" and "Daddy, don't kill your baby!" mantras that the protestors favour.
Fact: In the entire region, abortions account for 2% of the services provided by Planned Parenthood of Mar Monte (PPMM).
Fact: The protestors don't consider the wealth of other necessary services provided by PPMM - pre-natal care, pediatric care, reproductive health care, family planning, primary care.
The protestors accuse PPMM of being motivated by greed and money. Yet PPMM remains one of the few resources available to men, women, and children who don't have health insurance or access to health providers, and PPMM uses a sliding scale to calculate fees to make sure that everyone can receive health care from qualified medical professionals. How can this be considered greed?
The city of Sacramento recently passed a new ordinance to protect clinics and people seeking access to the clinics (this includes both patients and staff members). The ordinance creates a buffer zone with a 20' radius around any clinic entrance. Protestors may still stand in this zone and express their opinions, but they are not permitted to approach people entering the clinic without their consent. Two of the regular Tuesday morning protestors at the PPMM B St. clinic have filed a suit challenging the constitutionality of the ordinance.
I read about the suit in the Sacramento Bee online this morning. Considering that I have been a witness to the protestors' actions on numerous occasions, including on July 6th, one of the days specifically mentioned in the suit, I immediately contacted both the reporter who wrote the story and the Deputy City Attorney who is handling the case. I'm pleased to report that I heard from both of these people today - I'll be meeting with the City Attorney sometime within the next two weeks to draft a declaration that will be entered into testimony at the September injunction hearing, and I spoke with the reporter who is doing a follow-up story for about 15 minutes to tell her about what I've experienced as an escort at the clinic.
After being a part of the historic March for Women's Lives in Washington, D.C. in April, the last thing I'm going to do in a situation like this is remain silent!
Pro-choice = pro-women, pro-health, pro-child, pro-family. I'm pro-choice and proud of it!
posted by jms | 2:15 PM
1 Comments:
LNJ said:
I just needed to get in here and say HELL YES!
I think my 'heaviest' memory of a Planned Parenthood was while attending high school in WIz. I was on the Cross Country team and we were out running one day. Well, us 'little' freshmen hadn't been working hard the day before, so coach sent us out on a LONG run to punish us. On our way back, we were on a path that took us past the Planned Parenthood. The protest people got in our way and forced GRAPHIC fliers and other materials on us as we jogged past. We were 13-14 for pete's sake. One runner, in trying to avoid these folken, tripped and sustained cuts, bruises, and a sprained wrist. All this to stop abortions and we thought that we were just out for a run. Say what you've gotta say, I'm all for that, but I never heard of a Pro-Choicer accosting a group of 14 year olds, causing injury, and showing them graphic photos of a healthy live baby with his mum and dad.
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